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Two-year-old Athelia Blanton-Latta was born with a vascular malformation in her left knee. This particular region of her body had somehow developed a giant tangle of blood vessels that posed the risk of excessive bleeding and placed pressure on her heart as it tried to pump blood through the region, dramatically increasing her risk of having a heart attack.
As Athelia grew, so did her growth. It got to the point where Athelia couldn’t crawl or walk properly because her knee had swollen so large.
Athelia’s mother, Jessica, brought her daughter to doctors for treatment twice – but both attempts failed. Generally, vascular malformations are treated with embolization treatment where the affected blood vessels are injected with a fluid that cuts off blood flow. This treatment didn’t work for Athelia.
Blanton-Latta saw no other option but to turn the typically “last resort” solution for her daughter: surgery.
“[Athelia] could have died at any moment – her heart was put under so much stress from pumping such a lot of blood to her leg. Her heart would have shut down from exhaustion and she’d have suffered cardiac arrest…” Blanton-Latta explained.
Blanton-Latta called for the support of friends and family to raise over $15,000 to pay for Athelia’s surgery. She knew, without providing her daughter any treatment, Athelia would always have a huge number of daily risks that would cause everyone to worry.
While the fundraising was ultimately successful, Blanton-Latta knew she “lost a lot of friends because [they] were always having to fundraise to try to get [Athelia] the surgery she needed.”
Blanton-Latta is now, however, worry-free.
The surgery allowed doctors to completely remove the blood vessel-swollen mass from Athelia’s leg, and she can now walk and play without any risk of straining her heart or hurting her knee. “The difference is [Athelia] won’t struggle to walk, will have full mobility of her legs and there was no damage to her muscles from surgery so she’ll recover really well,” Blanton-Latta said.
“I couldn’t let my daughter continue to struggle with her leg and had to take matters into my own hands.”
